For the first time, the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy’s (KFE) Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) fusion reactor has reached temperatures seven times that of the Sun’s core.
Achieved during testing between December 2023 and February 2024, this sets a new record for the fusion reactor project.
KSTAR, the researchers behind the reactor report, managed to maintain temperatures of 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 million degrees Celsius) for 48 seconds. For reference, the temperature of the core of our Sun is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius).
Furthermore, it maintained the high confinement mode (H-mode) for over 100 seconds. H-mode is a stable plasma state that is better confined than low confinement mode.
This is the latest in many successes for KSTAR, too. For example, in 2021, KSTAR set a new record by running at one million degrees and maintaining super-hot plasma for 30 seconds.
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